Nolte died November 24, 2004, at the National
Naval Medical Center Bethesda, Maryland, from injuries received November
9 as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Holmes
died November 25, 2004, Faircloth and Houck died November 26, 2004, and
Bosselmann and Lucero died November 27, 2004, all as a result of enemy
action in Al Anbar Province Iraq.

For more information on Nolte contact the Marine
Corps Air Station Cherry Point Public Affairs Office at (252) 466-4241.
For information on any of the other Marines contact the 2nd Marine Division
Public Affairs Office at (910) 751-9033.
Tuesday, 30 November 2004 Marine on 2nd tour dies in Iraq

Memorial service for lance corporal to be held
Sunday in Mooresville

Bob Houck believes more than ever that the
fight for the Iraqis' freedom must go on.

"I feel that any place worthy of shedding my
son's blood is a place that's worth doing the right job for," said Houck,
57, of the Mooresville area.

Bob Houck said he knew what to expect when
he saw Marines in full dress uniform knocking on his door in the Millbridge
community north of Mooresville.

He used to have the same job, he said, when
he was in uniform himself. The elder Houck spent a career in the Navy working
as an electronic technician senior chief and later as second in command
in Arkansas.

"It's really hard to do when you see the sorrow
and grief that families are going through," he said.

Bob and Beth Houck deal with their grief by
remembering the funny songs they invented for David and his four siblings
to help them fall asleep at night.

They also remembering how happy they were in
February 2002, when David Houck called and asked if they could store his
belongings.

He was joining the Marines.

"I was overjoyed," Houck said. "He had no direction.
He had been floundering and working at UPS at night and delivering furniture
during the day, wearing himself out."

The Marine Corps was a good fit for his son,
Houck remembers thinking. David Houck knew right from wrong and had a strong
sense of duty, he said.

In February 2003, Houck left Camp Lejeune for
the Iraqi coast. His son fought at the airport in Mosul and helped quell
riots, surviving on one meal a day, Bob Houck said.

According to The Associated Press, in the midst
of the airport battle, Houck found a rose growing among the rubble. He
enclosed petals from the flower in a letter he sent his mother.

In his letter, he wrote: "It seems strange
that beauty can be found in the midst of chaos."

In later e-mails, he discussed how he had killed
others.

"I've actually killed a couple of people,"
he wrote, according to The Associated Press report. "It's kind of strange
how something that I've been trained to do can sit so heavily on my mind."

David Houck returned to Camp Lejeune in October
2003 and trained in urban warfare.

In June 2004, he was deployed again to Iraq.

With that kind of training, which focuses on
fighting in tight spaces, the family knew their son would likely face situations
where he could be injured or killed.

"We were hoping that wouldn't be true, but
that's just reality," his father said. "We are both confident that David
is in heaven and that we'll see him again.

"That's really what sustains us through the
day."

A memorial service for David Houck will be
held at 3 p.m. Sunday at Peninsula Baptist Church in Mooresville.

He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Robert and Beth Houck prayed for their son, Lance Cpl.
David Houck, and his Marine unit every day. But they had a bad feeling
when he told them that he would be part of an operation that would include
house-to-house fighting against insurgents in Iraq.

"He told us, 'If I don't come back, here are
some things I want done.' He knew it was a strong possibility (that he
would be killed)," Robert Houck said. "He told me, 'Dad, every Marine coming
out of there is coming out with a Purple Heart. It's a dangerous, dangerous
area that we're going to.'"

The Houcks, who live in Rowan County, were
notified Friday night that their son, who had lived in Winston-Salem, was
killed that day in Iraq by enemy action in Anbar Province, which includes
Fallujah and Ramadi.

As they plan his funeral and burial in Arlington
National Cemetery, they recall his joy for life and his caring heart, the
times he seemed to lose direction, and how the Marine Corps got him back
on track.

"David was just a spark of life and joy wherever
he went," his father said. "Wherever you went, he would bring life and
liveliness and joy and happiness."

David Houck, 25, 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighing
a trim 175 pounds, enjoyed rock climbing at Pilot Mountain State Park or
going on long jogs with other Marines.

He and his four siblings had been home-schooled
by his parents, and he graduated from high school in 1998. Robert Houck
was a senior chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy who retired in 1997,
and his family has lived in several states. As a teenager, David Houck
wanted to be a pilot.

After high school, David Houck enrolled at
Piedmont Baptist College in Winston-Salem, a training school for missionaries.
But he only attended for a semester before dropping out. After that, his
father said, he got involved with drugs.

His father said he was not sure of the exact
nature of his son's problems - only that he overcame them. He worked for
United Parcel Service, and for another company delivering furniture.

"The Marine Corps gave him his direction, and
it gave him his purpose," his father said. David Houck joined in February
2002.

He was deployed to Iraq in February 2003, not
long before the war began.

In Iraq, Houck fought in Mosul, where the Marines
took control of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party headquarters, his father said.

David Houck wrote to his parents to tell them
that he had killed men and that he had mixed feelings, his father said.

"He came to reconcile himself. It was people
shooting at his buddies, so it was us or them. And he told me, 'If it's
us or them, it's going to be them, it's not going to be us.'"

The Salisbury Post reported last year that
in one e-mail to his parents, Houck said, "I've actually killed a couple
of people. It's kind of strange how something that I've been trained to
do can sit so heavily on my mind."

Houck returned from his first deployment in
October 2003, and did extensive training in urban warfare while he was
back in the United States. He and his fellow Marines trained to work in
five-man teams looking for insurgents in cities.

"David told us ... he would be No. 1 or No.
2 through the door. If there was somebody there waiting for them, he would
be one of the guys who would catch it first," his father said.

When he was home, Houck told his parents about
the other Marines in two squads - about 60 people, his father said. "David
could tell us things about each one of them. He was interested in people."

Houck left for his second deployment on June
20.

He told his father not to worry about him,
saying, "I know what we're doing is right. I believe what we're doing is
right, and I'm good at what I do," his father recalled.

One thing that comforts family members, Robert
Houck said, is their religious faith. "That is the biggest comfort," he
said. "We believe (David) is in heaven and we believe we will see him again."

Houck said his son told him that the war was
the right thing to do for the Iraqi people and the United States.

"I've been asking for people to pray for Iraq
to be free," Robert Houck said. "For me, that's the best thing that will
honor my son and his death, is a real, true free Iraq."
Thursday, December2, 2004 By Rose Post Courtesy of the Salisbury Post

Sometimes a family has to wait months for a
funeral service at Arlington National Cemetery.

But not the Houcks of Millbridge.

Bob and Beth Houck's middle son, 25-year-old
Lance Corporal David Houck, "goes straight to the head of the line," says
Sergeant David Brown, who handles media questions for the Marine Corps'
Charlotte office, "because he was on active duty and died in a combat zone."

The family has not yet received details of
his death.

That, they know, will come later.

But he's home now, and his family and friends
are dealing with their loss.

His body arrived at Dover Air Force Base in
Delaware Monday and at Charlotte-Douglas Airport in Charlotte last night
and is now at Linn-Honeycutt Funeral Home in China Grove.

And family and friends will comfort each other
at the visitation at Linn-Honeycutt Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m., and they'll
have two opportunities to say goodbye.

A memorial service will be conducted Sunday
at 3 p.m. at Peninsula Baptist Church on Brawley School Road in Mooresville
by the pastor, the Rev. Dr. Robert Jackson.

A burial ceremony will follow on Wednesday
at 3 p.m. at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, adjacent
to the nation's capital.

The Marine escort, which accompanied the body
home, as well as Chief Warrant Officer Scott Thiesse, the maintenance officer
at the Navy and Marine Reserve Center in Charlotte, and the Center's gunnery
Sergeant David Brown were part of the escort which met the plane at Charlotte-Douglas
Airport last night and will accompany the body to Arlington and serve as
pallbearers at both services.

The body will be present at the Sunday memorial
service and will then be flown to Washington on Tuesday, which the Marines
have noted, is Pearl Harbor Day, for interment in Arlington.

Anyone who wants to attend the Arlington ceremony
must be at the Administration Building at Arlington National Cemetery by
2:30 p.m. Wednesday or they will not be allowed to go to the burial site.

Not only friends from this area but others
from California, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Florida, where the Houck family
lived during the years that Bob Houck was in the Navy, have indicated they
hope to attend.

Bob and Beth Houck learned their son had died
in Iraq last Friday night when two Marine officers arrived at their home
with the terrible news.

The Marines are limited in what they can tell
families about their loved ones in Iraq, so the Houcks can only surmise
that David, who had been a Marine for about 2 1/2 years, was one of the
two reported killed in Fallujah Friday.

He was in his second tour of duty in Iraq and
served as a semi-automatic gunner and a point man with Bravo Co., 1st Battalion,
8th Marines, which made him one of the first to encounter the enemy.

The family says he believed in what American
forces are doing.

He is the fifth casualty with links to Rowan
County, but the first whose home was still in Rowan when he went into the
Marines.

And that didn't surprise his family any more
than the sergeant's comment that David would go to the head of the line
at Arlington.

Going to the head of the line was part of David's
nature.

"He went right through skiing," says his father,
talking about his boy, his lost son, one thought pushing another out of
the way.

"Skiing wasn't challenging enough. He went
to snowboarding," he says. "To the hardest, the fastest slope, the most
difficult one, always trying different tricks."

And earlier, when the family moved back to
Rowan County from the north, "he would ride his bicycle up and down the
roads. He was one of the last ones that wanted to come inside."

And the first to find a friend.

"You never dropped David into a place where
he didn't make friends. When he got older, he was the one who would go
if there was an emergency, the one who would take the chances. He would
push the envelope to see how far he could get."

Maybe that was what he was doing in February
2002, when he called his dad and asked him if he could store his household
stuff for a while.

He'd joined the Marines.

"And I was happy," his father says. "I really
believed that Dave would be good in the military, whatever branch he chose.
He would do it with all his heart.

"I thought, and think now, that the Marines
was a good fit. ... He said we know things are brewing in the Middle East.
Can you write me and keep me up to date on what's going on? We didn't hear
from him much, but I would write him, and he said all the guys shared the
information."

And Bob Houck will never forget one thing his
son wrote.

"We're a little scared," he said, "a little
worried, but we're ready to go do what we need to do."

And that's what he did.

Thursday, December 2, 2004War leaves a baby without her fatherMarine David Houck, 1-year-old's dad, died
last week in IraqBy Patrick Wilson

Amanda
Pajdo and her daughter, Chloe, who is now 13 months old.

(LETTER TO CHLOE)

"Well, maybe this is your first birthday card,
and I know that it's a bit early, but I wanted to be sure that I could
get your card in the mail in time. I've been hunting for a couple weeks
for your present, but nothing here seems appropriate. I'll just have to
take you shopping when I get back. I love you. - Daddy."

Marine Lance Corporal David Houck was not expecting
the news one of his supervisors gave him on his way to Iraq in the spring
of 2003.

Houck was on the USS Nashville, somewhere off
the coast of Africa, when he was told that his girlfriend back in Winston-Salem
was pregnant.

At first, Houck was shocked and worried, but
he soon accepted the situation and was excited about becoming a father,
according to letters that he sent to the baby's mother, Amanda Pajdo.

Between deployments in Iraq, Houck was able
to see his child, Chloe Isabel Houck. He wrote letters to his daughter
reassuring her that he would always be there for her.

"No matter what happens in the coming years,
I will always be here to hold you, or just hang around and have fun if
that's what you need," he wrote in a Sept. 1, 2003, letter to his daughter,
a month before she was born.

Pajdo, a waitress at the West End Cafe in Winston-Salem,
met Houck in 2000 when her friends introduced them. She said yesterday
that she had been unimpressed with him at first, but they became friends
and started dating.

"We were best friends to start with," Pajdo
said. "He was nice. He was really intelligent. I thought he was cute."

Houck, the son of a retired U.S. Navy officer,
Robert Houck of Rowan County, worked in the flooring department at a Lowe's
Home Improvement store and lived in an apartment in Winston-Salem.

In the letter to his daughter, Houck described
what he felt when he learned that he would be a father.

"I experienced a large degree of shock and
confusion, but in my own defense I was halfway to Iraq at the time," he
wrote. "I'll have to admit that your Dad is only human and went through
a very rebellious stage, just like any other guy."

Houck told his daughter that he wanted her
to think of him as a friend as well as a parent.

He also wrote a letter to Pajdo saying that
he hoped to be home for the birth of their child, or arrive shortly after.

"I'm just very concerned that I will mess up
at the whole parenting thing, but I'm going to give it the best shot I
can," he wrote. "Honestly, I'm really scared."

Chloe was born on October 4, 2003. Houck returned
home from his first deployment when she was 3 weeks old.

He learned how to change diapers and give the
baby baths when he wasn't reporting to Camp Lejeune or training in California.

Pajdo said she noticed that the war made him
think differently.

"Unfortunately, he had to use his weapon....
It changed him. He had a different view on things," she said. "He was just
a different person."

In December, Houck and Pajdo decided to break
up during an emotional phone call that lasted several hours.

"He said, 'I'm different. I don't know how
to feel things anymore,'" Pajdo said. "He said that the only emotion he
really could feel was the love for his daughter."

Houck went back for his second deployment in
June 2004. He continued to send $200 a month to Pajdo for Chloe.

He was killed in the Anbar Province, which
includes Ramadi and Fallujah.

His father said that Houck had extensive training
in urban warfare, and probably was on a mission rounding up insurgents
house to house.

Whatever killed him hit him in the face, the
Marine Corps told Robert Houck.

Pajdo couldn't imagine what it would have been
like to tell an older child that her father was dead. "It's good that she's
this little," she said.

Houck had sent Chloe an early birthday card
dated Sept. 19.

The front has a picture of a cat, with the
words "Miss you."

"Hey Chloe," the letter began.

"Well, maybe this is your first birthday card,
and I know that it's a bit early, but I wanted to be sure that I could
get your card in the mail in time. I've been hunting for a couple weeks
for your present, but nothing here seems appropriate. I'll just have to
take you shopping when I get back. I love you. - Daddy."

December 5, 2004 By SILKE RIBLE

A Rowan County Marine was remembered Sunday
as his family shared his final words — a letter Lance Corporal David Houck
wrote to his parents in Morresville just before he died in Fallujah.

The letter was written just six days before
the 25-year-old Marine, who was stationed at Camp Lejuene, died. His parents
received it one week after learning he had been killed.

"Mom and Dad, I'm smack dab in the middle of
Fallujah. The action is very intense right now," he wrote.

Houck was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously.
A military representative presented it to his parents during Sunday's memorial
service.

Houck's family said that faith in God helped
them through this time.

"We know we'll see him at the reunion," said
mother Beth Houck.

Houck will be buried at Arlington National
Cemetery. A date has not yet been set for the service.

When David Houck's regiment returns home from
Iraq, his parents plan to have a reunion with the men that served with
their son and to thank them for serving their country.
Monday, December 6, 2004 Remembering a hero Friends, family pay tribute to Rowan Marine
killed in IraqBy Steve HuffmanCourtesy of the Salisbury Post

Proud
parents: Beth and Bob Houck, parents of Lance Cpl. David Houck, return
to their seats after a brief stop at their son's casket

MOORESVILLE — Hundreds crowded the sanctuary
of Peninsula Baptist Church on Sunday to bid farewell to a Marine from
Rowan County who died fighting in Iraq.

David Houck, a lance corporal and the son of
Beth and Bob Houck of Millbridge, died November 26, 2004. He's believed
to have died while involved in house-to-house fighting in Fallujah.

Houck, 25, was remembered Sunday as a loving
son and brother who died doing something to which he'd grown strongly committed
— protecting the United States.

David's older brother, Rob, said his brother
decided to enlist in the Marines following the terrorist attacks of September
11, 2001.

"David saw something wrong and wanted to do
something about it," Rob said, speaking during the memorial service that
was attended by everyone from Marines to grandmothers.

"One thing I want you to know," Rob continued,
"is that David was a great American. You're a great American if you see
a problem and you do something about it."

David's younger brother, Micah, said he could
remember a time when his brother didn't want to shake his hand, much less
hug him. But Micah said he knew David had experienced a change of heart
when he returned home last year following his first tour of duty in Iraq.

Micah said that when he saw David upon his
return to Rowan County, the first thing his older brother did was hug him.

"That told me right there there'd been a change,"
Micah said.

He said that after graduating from high school
in 1997, David struggled for several years for a purpose to his life.

But he said that changed with David's enlistment
in the Marines. Micah said he refuses to look at David's death as the end,
but merely a stepping stone.

He said he has a vision that one of the first
ones his brother saw in heaven was God. "And he got a hug," Micah said
of the manner in which David and God surely greeted one another.

"I know where he is, and he isn't lying in
this casket," Micah continued, motioning to the flag-draped coffin at the
center of the sanctuary. "He's standing at the side of Jesus, waiting to
come back."

Sunday's service was punctuated with plenty
of patriotic tunes. Those in attendance joined to sing everything from
"The Star Spangled Banner" to "God Bless America." Steve and Tracy Mangum
joined for a duet of "God Bless the U.S.A."

Memories:
Bob Houck talks about his son's life during the
service. 'David was laughter. David was life,' he said

The memorial program that was distributed to
everyone attending Sunday's service included a Bible verse from John 11:25.
It reads: "Jesus said unto her, 'I am the resurrection, and the life: he
that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.' "

At the front of the sanctuary, beside the casket,
were pictures snapped during David's lifetime, showing him growing from
a child to a strapping young man. The largest picture on display was of
David in his Marine dress uniform.

Bob Houck, David's father, told those gathered
for the service that his middle son was an energetic young man with a good
sense of humor.

"David was laughter," Bob said, "David was
life."

He said that in those years following his son's
graduation when his boy struggled for purpose, he frequently drove to Winston-Salem
where David lived to have lunch with him.

"I can't say I always agreed with his choices,"
Bob said, "but they were his to make."

He said that as his son aged and matured, his
decisions grew sharper. Bob compared David to an arrow.

"As he improved," Bob said, "he had a straight
shaft and a sharp point."

Then he paused.

"We're so proud of David," his father continued,
"who he is, what he did."

Bob thanked those who attended Sunday's memorial
service, noting that some who came didn't know his son or his family, but
were merely grateful for the job that David and countless other members
of the military are performing in Iraq.

Bob said that if David could have spoken Sunday,
he'd have reminded those in attendance not to give up the fight.

"I think we need to finish the task," Bob said.

Dr. Robert Jackson, pastor of Peninsula Baptist,
said David's name had been on a prayer list at the church since he left
in June for his second tour of duty in Iraq. He said that when the Bob
called to tell him that David had died, he asked that his son's name be
removed from the prayer list.

But he didn't want a void where his son's name
had been. Bob asked that the people of Iraq be remembered in prayer now
that his son was dead.

Jackson said David would have been proud of
his father's request.

"David was there fighting for the freedom for
those people to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ," Jackson said. "God truly
does love the whole world."

David Houck will be buried at 3 p.m. Wednesday
at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Anyone who wants to attend
the Arlington ceremony must be at the Administration Building at Arlington
National Cemetery by 2:30 p.m. Wednesday or they will not be allowed to
go to the burial site.

MOORESVILLE - The audience of about 450 people
sat quietly in Peninsula Baptist Church in front of David Houck's flag-draped
coffin Sunday afternoon until the first few bars of "The Star-Spangled
Banner" began.

Then the booming sound of voices rang out,
with hundreds of family, friends and even strangers unified to celebrate
the country and the Marine who died serving it.

Houck, a 25-year-old lance corporal, was killed
the day after Thanksgiving in Iraq's Anbar province, according to the Department
of Defense. He had been assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment,
2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune. He
was serving his second tour of duty.

Though he lived in Winston-Salem, news of his
death also hit Mooresville, where his parents live. It affected strangers,
including retired Marines who drove from Taylorsville and Hickory.

"Many of you don't even know my family, and
many of you just came because you heard what happened. There's one thing
I want you to know about my brother David," said Rob Houck, the soldier's
oldest brother.

"He saw there was a problem, and he saw there
was something to be done about it. And that's what I want you to know about
my brother David. He is a great American."

Family members also told of a young man who
searched for direction as he worked delivering furniture and for UPS before
joining the Marines in 2002.

His service in Iraq changed him, they said.
Before, he had been hesitant to give his younger brother Micah a hug. But
after his first tour, Micah Houck said, the Marine sought him out with
a ready embrace.

At the funeral service, sniffles filled the
church hall as Marines in full dress uniform awarded the family a Purple
Heart for their son. It was then that Ruth Erwin, 83, of Salisbury broke
down and wept in her husband's arms.

"I'm just broken-hearted," said Erwin, Houck's
great-aunt. "It just makes you sad. But we've got a great country, and
we have to protect it."

Houck will be buried at Arlington National
Cemetery.

Thu, Dec 9, 2004 Farewell to a fallen heroLance Corporal David Houck buried at Arlington
National CemeteryBy Rose PostCourtesy of the Salisbury Post

Military
honors: The Marine Corps honor guard folds the flag from the casket of
Lance Corporal David B. Houck before presenting it to his parents.

Surely the tears have fallen. The promises
been made and made again. The promises to remember and to love him always
and to see him again in his Father's house.

No stranger, no reporter, no photographer,
no curious on-looker from afar needed to be close enough to the grave site
to hear the words that were said when Lance Corporal David Houck, the son
of Bob and Beth Houck of Millbridge, was laid to rest Wednesday afternoon
as the sun prepared to set on Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery
in the nation's capital.

An escort of young Marines lifted the casket
holding Houck's body from the hearse, after a ceremony at Fort Myer Chapel,
and brought it with perfect military precision to his final resting place
— for his last goodbye from about 50 family members and friends who drove
hundreds of miles to be there.

The message couldn't be hidden from reporters
and photographers, who had to stand some 50 yards away to witness the solemn
ceremony, any more than the world itself could mistake the pride his family
had in a son who'd given his life for his country on a foreign battlefield.

They believe David, the middle son of Bob and
Beth, was probably one of two soldiers killed on November 26, 2004, in
Iraq, though the official government spokesmen who brought the couple the
news nearly a week ago knew only that he was gone.

The family still has not received any information
about how David died.

His unit — the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment,
2nd Marine Division, 11th Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune
— was in Fallujah, and two Marines were killed in house-to-house fighting
on the day their son's life ended.

Eventually, they know, they'll get the details.

But for now? For now, they had to tell him
goodbye.

They'd already greeted hundreds of family and
friends at a funeral service Sunday at Peninsula Baptist Church on Brawley
School Road in Mooresville.

At that service, 25-year-old David was remembered
as a loving son and brother who died doing something he was strongly committed
to — protecting the United States.

His oldest brother, Rob, told the overflow
crowd gathered there that David decided to enlist in the Marines following
the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

"David saw something wrong and wanted to do
something about it," Rob said.

Doing it, he became the fifth soldier killed
in that war who had close connections with Rowan County and this county's
first native son.

And the dignity with which the burial ceremony
was conducted Wednesday as well as the place where it took place said clearly
that his country is grateful — and will remember.

You can't doubt that when you drive through
the gates into Arlington National Cemetery, into what looks — and feels
— like a sea of graves in front of you, behind you, on all sides.

His family and friends came not only from Rowan
County but also from and Florida and California. His parents and his two
sisters and two brothers and nephews and aunts and uncles and their children
were here.

And it was no wonder, said his aunt Judy Halas,
"because this is our family cemetery."

She could count 10 in their immediate family
who will wait for eternity at Arlington National Cemetery and more than
that number will be there when a few years have passed.

And maybe most importantly, his daughter, Chloe
Houck, was there, in a stroller pushed by her mother, Amanda, and accompanied
by her grandmother, Sandie Padjo.

The service in the chapel didn't last long.

Possibly not as long as the service at the
graveside, which followed a procession on Douglas MacArthur Drive with
the Pentagon in the background.

The cemetery set up 10 chairs for family members,
and others gathered round to hear a few words from the chaplain, Lieutenant
Commander Harold Palmer, and watch the honors ceremony carried out by the
U.S.Marine Crops Ceremonial and Guard Company, headquartered in Washington.

Standard honors at Arlington means that a precision-trained
team of pallbearers — as well as a Marine Corps firing party, a bugler
and a flag that covered the casket — and a second flag that had been carefully
folded into a triangle by Sergeant David Brown of the Inspector-Instructor
Office in Charlotte.

One was given to David's mother and the other,
the one folded by Sergeant Brown, to his daughter.

And Brown pointed out, during the moment he
was able to speak to news crews from the Salisbury Post, the Washington
Post and wire services, that the flag the Marines folded during the service
was a team effort.

"They all had hands on it at once," he said.
"They were always touching the flag and always touching the casket."

And he looked toward the honors guard — seven
Marines lining up with their rifles — as they fired the three rounds that
made it a 21-gun salute.

A
bugler plays taps for Lance Corporal David B. Houck, surrounded by the graves
of fallen soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

The sun was hanging low in the sky. Planes
from Reagan International Airport cut through an azure blue sky as though
to say goodbye.

And a far-away bugler raised a trumpet to his
lips to play the traditional and haunting "Taps."

The burial service for David Houck — the 103rd
Iraqi Freedom funeral at Arlington National Cemetery was over.

But more are coming.

On the day David was buried, the Department
of Defense announced the names of five other Marines supporting Operation
Iraqi Freedom who died on the day Lance Corporal David Houck gave his life
for his country.

February 2006:

Bob and Beth Houck of Millbridge will never
forget the sight of eight Marines holding their son's casket as he was
buried at Arlington National Cemetery on December 8, 2004.

Now they'll have more among the countless memories
they have of their son, Marine Lance Corporal David Houck, and the letters
he wrote from the middle of the war, his concern about killing two people
and how he wondered at how heavily that weighed on his mind when he was
trained to do it.

But it did weigh even though he was busy defending
Mosul Airport and the battle in Fallujah.

Now the details of those memories come in a
letter from his mother, Beth, and Gunnery Sergeant David Brown, who handled
the media during her son's memorial service at Peninsula Baptist Church
and also at Arlington.

"It looks," Beth Houck writes, like her David
"will finally be recognized for his service in saving the lives of two
Marines on Thanksgiving Day, 2004, the day before he, himself gave up his
life."

The presentation will be at the Charlotte Marine
Corps Reserve Center on Saturday, March 4, probably at 11 a.m.

In his letter to the Houck parents, Gunnery
Sergeant David Brown wrote that he had "received a package in the mail
this weekend from the Commanding General of 1st Marine Division. Inside
is an award for David.

"I guess the reason it has taken so long to
filter down is because of all the levels of administration stuff it had
to go through," said Gunnery Sergeant Brown.

"The award is a Navy Commendation Medal with
a Combat 'V' device for valor. Both Marines and Navy personnel are eligible
to receive the award. The narrative outlines David's actions while under
fire.

"I need to get this to you," Gunnery Sergeant
Brown wrote the Houcks, "but I want to make sure it is done the right way.
It should be presented officially."

And there was more.

Beth Houck also received a letter from their
good friend, Karen Frederickson, "who is doing a superb job of connecting
all us 13 families who lost sons in the battle for Fallujah. A native North
Carolinian has recently published a book depicting this awesome battle."

The title of the book is "Fallujah, With Honor,
First Battalion, Eighth Marine's Role in Operation Phantom Fury" by Gary
Livingston, and Karen got a copy and read it.

"It chronicles the 1st Battalion 8th Marine
Regiment's part in the Fight for Fallujah, Iraq, also known as Operation
Phantom Fury, in November and December 2004.

"When I got the book in my hands," she wrote
the Houcks, "I immediately sought out those chapters that focus on Bravo
Company. I will read the entire book and the chapters about Alpha, Charlie
and Weapons Company soon but for now I am riveted to the saga of Bravo
Company," which was David Houck's company.

"There are mistakes — spelling of names, proper
rank, and other errors not caught when the book was edited — but no matter,"
Karen wrote, "it is still riveting.

"It tells a story that we know all too well
but in more detail than we may have known before. On every page in those
chapters about Bravo Company I recognize every name.

"I picture their faces. I remember them recounting
each of these battles, and the tears run down my face. It is so personal."

In memory: David Houck decorated his helmet
with the names of those lost in the battle of Fallujah.

David's mother has not yet seen the book but
she is sure her son's story is in it.

"On Thanksgiving Day in a heavy fire fight,
David and his friend, Dominic Esquibel, went in to rescue Tom Hodges and
Mike Rodriguez, and they tried to go back to rescue two more, but an explosion
stopped them. It broke David's heart.

"And for that he will receive the Navy commendation
medal."

The book also includes the stories of each
of the 13 Bravo Co. Marines, including David Houck, who lost their lives
in the fight for Fallujah.

"This is a very difficult book to read," Karen
said in her letter to Beth Houck, "especially if you are personally vested
in the hearts and souls of these Marines. It brings the horrors of war
right into your gut. Some of you would rather not go there, would rather
not know about the realities of war, would prefer that it did not intrude
on your daily life."

But Karen felt strongly that this battle needed
to be documented and the deeds of these Marines, by name, need to be remembered.

Another of the Marines whose injuries are well
documented in the book is Sergeant Jacob Knospler.

He was so severely wounded that President Bush
himself presented him with his Purple Heart at Bethesda Naval Hospital,
and he was interview by Newsweek Magazine this week.

Anyone interested in the book may order copies
from Caisson Press, P. O. Box 505, North Topsail Beach, North Carolina
28460 or send an email to caissonpress@yahoo.com.